Despite the fact that she was seated on the small settee in Mary’s sitting room with her husband’s arm wrapped protectively around her, Elizabeth could not suppress a shiver.
Kenrick immediately pulled her closer into the comfort of his embrace. “We are distressing Elizabeth,” he told his mother.
“Then we must instantly change the subject,” Mary declared. “As a matter of fact, I have been remiss in not mentioning to Elizabeth that her parents are asleep in an upstairs bedchamber.”
“What?” Elizabeth shouted. She would have jumped to her feet had not Kenrick’s embrace been so firm.
“I am sorry, my dear,” he said. “In the excitement, I forgot to mention their arrival. It seems they were again concerned about your stay in London, fearing you were not competent to handle the frenzied pace of city life.”
“Well, they will not worry about that in the future,” Mary announced. “Elizabeth, dearest, I believe I was able to enlighten your parents on several important aspects of your character. In fact, I scolded them rather severely, but they did not appear to hold that against me. Your mother was so relieved to learn that your mind is sound and that you were being freed from your incarceration in that terrible place, she became quite friendly. I was pleased to learn that both she and your father love you very deeply.”
Mary paused to consider her last words before continuing. “Perhaps I should have said that your parents love you as deeply as they are capable of loving anything that is not located between the covers of a book. Unfortunately, they do not have a smidgeon of common sense between them and needed someone to clarify for them the wonderful extent of your capabilities, which I believe I was able to do.”
Elizabeth was too stupefied to do more than stare at her mother-in-law in wonder, but Kenrick was soon chuckling. “Well, Mother, you have been rather busy, have you not?”
“Yes,” the dowager answered simply. “As a matter of fact, I find I am a bit fatigued after all of my activities. I think I shall retire to my bedchamber for a nap. No, Jeremy, do not stand. Elizabeth looks quite comfortable resting in your arms, and I do not want her to be disturbed. I will see both of you later.”
Kenrick watched, smiling, while Mary hurried from the room and closed the door firmly behind her. “My dear and quite amazing mother possesses all of the subtlety of a rampaging bull, does she not?” he said, grinning broadly.
“Absolutely,” Elizabeth agreed, smiling happily as she rested her head on Kenrick’s shoulder. “Still, I wish she had not rushed out of the room so quickly. I had hoped to hear more about what transpired between her and Gerald. I worry that he may have tricked her into believing he will go away and leave us alone.”
“Oh, I don’t think you need to worry about that, my dearest Elizabeth,” Kenrick said, resting his cheek on the top of her head. “We’ll let Mother continue to think that Gerald has departed for the continent but I intend to see him on board a ship headed for America. With his personality, he should prosper there. And, God willing, we can put him and his schemes out of our minds and forget completely how close he came to sabotaging our future.”
Elizabeth nodded, although she knew it would be a very long time before she could forget the horrors of the previous day and night. Kenrick obviously assumed the same.
“If I may be permitted, my dearest wife,” he whispered softly into her ear, “I shall endeavor to substitute joy for your unpleasant memories. Perhaps we may even, in a few months, have a son or daughter to help you forget.”
Elizabeth blushed but did not hesitate in her reply. “I would like that very much, Jeremy,” she whispered before lifting her head from his shoulder and turning her face toward him in an open invitation to be kissed.
Kenrick did not immediately take advantage of her offer. Instead, he reached to very gently trace the outline of her lips with his finger while gazing into her face with his devotion written clearly in his eyes for her to read.
“I love you, Elizabeth,” he said at last.
“And I love you,” she whispered before she initiated their kiss, touching him softly, inexpertly, but with a candor that left no doubt that she wished to be kissed in return.
Kenrick appeared happy to comply with her wishes, and in less than two minutes, Elizabeth was finding that as her passion soared, her frightening memories were already beginning to fade. This was really going to be quite simple, after all, she decided.
A Note from the Author
Dear Reader:
Thank you for reading A Simple Lady. I hope you enjoyed this adventure in Regency England and will want to read more of my Regencies.
You might also be interested in my contemporary series, which is set in Barbourville, a fictional small town in Tennessee. If you’re new to the Barbourville series, you might want to start with the prequel, Celebrations of Joy, although any of the books can stand alone. The first in the series is A Summer Sentence, which was a finalist in the National Readers’ Choice Awards, the HOLT Medallion contest, and the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence contest, as well as placing first in the traditional category of the Romance Writers Ink contest. Others in the series have won or placed in prestigious contests. The Forgotten Christmas Tree took first place in the 2014 HOLT Medallion contest, and At Home in Barbourville was an Award of Merit winner in the 2015 HOLT Medallion contest.
I hope you’ll like my Facebook author page (http://www.Facebook.com/carolynncareybooks). I also enjoy emails from readers. You can contact me through my website (carolynncarey.com). And like all authors, I appreciate honest reviews on Amazon or Goodreads!
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Table of Contents
About A Simple Lady
Titles by Carolynn Carey
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
A Simple Lady Page 23
